Cape Ann Plein Air 2025 Judges
Mat Barber Kennedy, Entry Juror
-
We are so pleased to announce that Cape Ann Plein Air’s 2025 artists will be selected from all applicants by renowned plein air painter Mat Barber Kennedy.
“Since 1990, I have been exploring architecture and culture through my paintings which celebrate the lives of ordinary people through the buildings and tools that we use in our everyday lives.
Over the last 15 years or so I have had the privilege of painting in Plein Air events across the United States.As a participant I can speak to the pressures, adrenaline, courage, grit and skill required not only to paint en Plein air, but to paint and exhibit in the company of a group of talented and driven professionals.The intensity of this event demands the resilience to turn up and produce whatever the weather has in store, and the weather on the northeast coast in October can be quite a challenge . Cape Ann 2019 was, if memory serves me correctly, a bit blustery to say the least!It is an honor and an awesome responsibility to have been asked to select the artists that will participate in Cape Ann Plein Air 2025.
There will be so many talented and amply deserving artists hoping for a place in this year’s event, but in the whittling down process I shall endeavour to select a group of painters that reflect a range of media, pace and areas of focus. I hope that my selection shall create a group whose views of Cape Ann will be multifaceted and broad. No-one yet knows what the participating artists will produce in their time there this Fall, but I hope to have set the stage for a rich and varied exhibition in which the beauty of life on Cape Ann will be celebrated.I am a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of Britain’s Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours and a proud recipient of the Turner Medal for my work in watercolor.
In the summer of 2023 I moved from Chicago to Georgia to take up a position as Professor of Digital Communications at the Savannah College of Art and Design.”– Mat Barber Kennedy
Hiu Lai Chong, Events Judge
-
We are thrilled to have plein air artist, Hiu Lai Chong as Cape Ann Plein Air’s 2025 Event Awards Judge. Hiu Lai Chong is a Maryland-based plein air artist with many accolades to her name. We are so pleased to have her as our Event Awards Judge. She is an accomplished plein air artist who has won awards in major events all over the country.
“It’s a huge honor to be an award juror for Cape Ann Plein Air. When it comes to my selection process, I usually look at all the works at once and then begin to narrow down my choices based on the skill of the artist and the mood and feeling expressed in the work. I’m intrigued by artwork that makes me think, feel and wonder. What inspired the artist to paint? Does it reflect something unique or specific about the local culture or natural environment? How did they handling technical aspects, such as the drawing, design, composition, color values, shape relationships, etc.? How well does the work read from a distance as well as up close? What are they trying to say with the piece; is it a quiet and gentle moment, or a large, glamorous scene? Is there a sense of mystery, and so on. It really depends on how well the artist is able to bring all of these subtle elements together.”